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HUGE DOMAINS SNIPING GODADDY CLOSEOUTS

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So annoying Godaddy hasn't stopped Huge Domains from sniping Godaddy Closeouts with their automated tools, no way a human bidder can win a even closeout.

First they were sniping with the backorders, now you cut that out, and you are letting them snipe via automated tools.

So what do you say @Joe Styler , you want to even the playing field a bit, as your partners are bidding everything in a split second, from $12, to $11, and bidding everything else into the hundreds from a simple bid. I would rather pay a Huge Domains surcharge at checkout.


Huge Domains has an unfair advantage on the auction platform, essentially taxing every user for using it with their automated access advantages given to them thru the house.
 
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The views expressed on this page by users and staff are their own, not those of NamePros.
Don’t even bother wasting your time watching a $12 unbid domain fall into $11 closeout if huge domains has it q’ed in their automated bidding bot, no way you will ever refresh, and claim it first.

To be honest I think Godaddys relationship with Huge Domains in a traditional auction setting is breaking a lot of state regulations when it comes to auction bidding.
 
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is this true? how much is this "automated access advantage" "thru the house" you are talking about cost?
 
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Don’t even bother wasting your time watching a $12 unbid domain fall into $11 closeout if huge domains has it q’ed in their automated bidding bot, no way you will ever refresh, and claim it first.

To be honest I think Godaddys relationship with Huge Domains in a traditional auction setting is breaking a lot of state regulations when it comes to auction bidding.

any idea how this bot picks the names to bid on? you mean huge domains doesn't even bother with any human intervention when buying names?

its like a total automaton start to end? like a factory chain with robots only.
 
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any idea how this bot picks the names to bid on? you mean huge domains doesn't even bother with any human intervention when buying names?

its like a total automaton start to end? like a factory chain with robots only.
I am sure they use everything from age, keyword popularity, extensions, etc... and godaddy's appraisal tool, maybe views, or what other variables they have their disposal. They started this in late 2015, and did really well with the backorder loophole, where people would sit refresh for hours, not knowing Huge Domains had already placed a backorder on the closeout when the auction ended, closing out the closeout before it even had a chance to open. Of course Godaddy was exposed on that, they let it go on for a month after that instead of closing it out, rumor was somebody had bought thousands of backorders, which we all know are worthless unless for only that one thing.

Also there was a time a bot went crazy, and put bids on everything, those bids were cancelled, which goes against their own policy. So if 1 bidder gets unfair advantages, I would not call that a fair auction process, and state laws are very strict when dealing with auction matters. Many of these auctions are claiming they are exchanges, getting around such rules.

If they have a $12 name in their log, and it goes unbid into $11 closeout, there is no way a human bidder has a chance. Godaddy has given Huge Domains the access to out advantage a human bidder.


Bidder 913932 is everywhere like a virus, you can't stop it.
 
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Don’t even bother wasting your time watching a $12 unbid domain fall into $11 closeout if huge domains has it q’ed in their automated bidding bot, no way you will ever refresh, and claim it first.

To be honest I think Godaddys relationship with Huge Domains in a traditional auction setting is breaking a lot of state regulations when it comes to auction bidding.

I've also offen wondered about how legal it all is. The problem is that there is zero downside for GD so why would they do anything to even the playing field.

I am sure they use everything from age, keyword popularity, extensions, etc... and godaddy's appraisal tool, maybe views, or what other variables they have their disposal. They started this in late 2015, and did really well with the backorder loophole, where people would sit refresh for hours, not knowing Huge Domains had already placed a backorder on the closeout when the auction ended, closing out the closeout before it even had a chance to open. Of course Godaddy was exposed on that, they let it go on for a month after that instead of closing it out, rumor was somebody had bought thousands of backorders, which we all know are worthless unless for only that one thing.

Also there was a time a bot went crazy, and put bids on everything, those bids were cancelled, which goes against their own policy. So if 1 bidder gets unfair advantages, I would not call that a fair auction process, and state laws are very strict when dealing with auction matters. Many of these auctions are claiming they are exchanges, getting around such rules.

If they have a $12 name in their log, and it goes unbid into $11 closeout, there is no way a human bidder has a chance. Godaddy has given Huge Domains the access to out advantage a human bidder.


Bidder 913932 is everywhere like a virus, you can't stop it.


I've said in another thread about HD that if the time and effort was put in and enough data was gathered on the auctions they bid on (and preferably get outbid on) I sure there would be a way to crack their algorithm. That would in turn allow them to be bid up on worthless names or at least let us know what they will bid to on a name and whether its worth taking part in the auction or not.
 
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hmmmm okay! nice info! never knew this.

I remember getting a few domains from the closeout bin. I think I got it for $14.

I suspect then that perhaps the idea that part of HugeDomain Bot's criteria for autobidding on these auctions is that domain has to be AGED for sure.

it seems to skip anything just 1 year or even two years old. either that or I got lucky and it skipped the ones I got.

There was one that got bid up to $80. paid more than I wanted on that one. but that one was probably just someone who put a max bid in advance.
 
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HD is impossible to compete with whether it is closeouts or action - For fun I followed about 15 minutes of GD action and here's what they won:

sengongpm.com - $22
srclean.com - $59
buylocalsandiego.com - $17
kaizenculture.com - $15
ocstaff.com - $15
sfseg.com - $15
reclaimedcleveland.com - $35
tradedentist.com - $15
femdoll.com - $15
floatersociety.com - $17
talniri.com - $116
coworkingon.com - $32
t1rates.com - $28

They became 2 highest bitter on the following names (their price)

centropay.com - $110 - (105)
everythingnicechristening.com - $49 - (45)
pureconcrete.com - $241 - (238)
fantasticresorts.com - $207 - (203)
exclusivecourses.com - $100 - (95)
lingasiabeauty.com - $50 - (45)

Lowest GD valuation was $253 and highest $2712

I was not interested in any of the names above, but last week I lost 12 auctions to them between $100 - 800
 
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hmmmm okay! nice info! never knew this.

I remember getting a few domains from the closeout bin. I think I got it for $14.

I suspect then that perhaps the idea that part of HugeDomain Bot's criteria for autobidding on these auctions is that domain has to be AGED for sure.

it seems to skip anything just 1 year or even two years old. either that or I got lucky and it skipped the ones I got.

There was one that got bid up to $80. paid more than I wanted on that one. but that one was probably just someone who put a max bid in advance.
Well now you know their bidder ID you'll know exactly what names they bid on.

My guess would be that their algorithm goes through all expired auction names that have 5 mins left (as that's when they seem to bid) and goes something like...

Has name been bid on? (essentially meaning we/other domainers are doing the searching work for them)
Names TLD?
Names age?
Google search stats for name?
Name length?

Etc etc untill it comes up with an amount to bid. This tells me it must be a computer generated algorithm of some sort as it is always a proxy bid, so they have determined what their limit is from the get go. Obviously for domains that go to closeout there must be something that the algorithm sees in it for it to bid straight away.

What annoys me the most is that they have automated the system. If they paid 100 people to trawl and bid manually it wouldn't bother me at all lol as I'd at least have a chance with human error involved.

I also wonder how difficult it would be for a half competent programmer to write a program to do this through GDs api.
 
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this is seen as virus by domainers ... and as goldmine money maker for gd.
 
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HD is impossible to compete with whether it is closeouts or action - For fun I followed about 15 minutes of GD action and here's what they won:

sengongpm.com - $22
srclean.com - $59
buylocalsandiego.com - $17
kaizenculture.com - $15
ocstaff.com - $15
sfseg.com - $15
reclaimedcleveland.com - $35
tradedentist.com - $15
femdoll.com - $15
floatersociety.com - $17
talniri.com - $116
coworkingon.com - $32
t1rates.com - $28

They became 2 highest bitter on the following names (their price)

centropay.com - $110 - (105)
everythingnicechristening.com - $49 - (35)
pureconcrete.com - $241 - (238)
fantasticresorts.com - $207 - (203)
exclusivecourses.com - $100 - (95)
lingasiabeauty.com - $50 - (45)

Lowest GD valuation was 253 and highest $2712

I was not interested in any of the names above, but last week I lost 12 auctions to them between $100 - 800
The auctions they don't win tell us a lot more as we then know what their proxy was. That's where the answer lies.
 
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this is seen as virus by domainers ... and as goldmine money maker for gd.
They must pay GD millions in auction fees and must easily be their biggest customer across all channels (just a guess). If there's no collusion or sweeteners of some sort I'd be very surprised.
 
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I keep away from auctions precisely for reaosns like this personally... so im not even exactly sure how all this works... though its easy to conclude for anyone that it is not a good thing.

does their participation often also just bump prices for other bidders? or it really just ends in them winning in 99% of cases???
 
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I keep away from auctions precisely for reaosns like this personally... so im not even exactly sure how all this works... though its easy to conclude for anyone that it is not a good thing.

does their participation often also just bump prices for other bidders? or it really just ends in them winning in 99% of cases???
Not sure of figures but I'm guessing it fairly equal. As OP said, it's essentially a bidding tax as as soon as you bid a name they will bid a proxy so in a way its bumping prices for GD.
 
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do these sniper bots target expired and closeouts only or do they also big on regular auctions like the ones we domainers put up for auction?

anyone have an idea if Huge Domains dips into regular auctions?

I remember having the "brilliant" idea to contact HugeDomains to ask if I could give them my domain auction list in the hopes they would bid seeing as how most of my domains are similar to the ones they have in their inventory.

Of course the said they don't do this.

I guess that's because they have bots doing it for them.

If only domain auctions placed all auctions in one pile and not separate them as auctions and expired auctions or closeouts.

I'm sure based on whatever algo huge domains is running. some of our submitted domains would get some of that action.

But instead all that "action" happens on the expired domain auction side.

Imagine domain auction website that had DOMAIN AUCTIONS but did not separate expired from regular domainer's domain auctions? but instead put them all in one bucket?

Now that's something I've sure love to see. I mean if these expired auctions were being "gamed" then what's the point? The key here is that these auctions are made "EASY" for the Algo to simply target Expired domains or closeouts and that's it.

I mean I can appreciate the organization of a website like this but would be nice to list ones domain among domains that have expired.

most people just make a bee line to the expireds and never bother looking at anything else.
 
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So annoying Godaddy hasn't stopped Huge Domains from sniping Godaddy Closeouts with their automated tools, no way a human bidder can win a even closeout.

First they were sniping with the backorders, now you cut that out, and you are letting them snipe via automated tools.

So what do you say @Joe Styler , you want to even the playing field a bit, as your partners are bidding everything in a split second, from $12, to $11, and bidding everything else into the hundreds from a simple bid. I would rather pay a Huge Domains surcharge at checkout.


Huge Domains has an unfair advantage on the auction platform, essentially taxing every user for using it with their automated access advantages given to them thru the house.

This is nothing new. API access is nothing new, anybody can request it. In past threads, people have posted there are other ways to do it on your own. We have people using tools right here at Namepros using bots/tools to bump threads. People that know how to use tech or pay somebody to develop something for them are going to have an advantage.
 
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wasn't there some markets out there which simply didn't allow this kind of stuff.. was it ebay I think?

I mean, to not allow it, is obviously doable. whether a market would want to do it, is another story.
 
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sure there would be a way to crack their algorithm
Zone files are available. So it is easy to generate a list of what do they have, what do they drop and how often. At least some of the rules used by their algorithm will then become obvious. For the purposes of daily drops, it can be used to understand what domains one might order @ dropcatch with $59 bid to make sure that hugedomains will not grab it for themselves [if the domain is worth $59]. It would also make no sense to order these domains through their "discount domain club" (@ any price) since HD will prevail ('partner backorder"). And, if HD unlikely has the particular domain in their own grablist - then, for low level domains, and only for these domains, sometimes "discount domain club" will work...
 
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This is nothing new. API access is nothing new, anybody can request it. In past threads, people have posted there are other ways to do it on your own. We have people using tools right here at Namepros using bots/tools to bump threads. People that know how to use tech or pay somebody to develop something for them are going to have an advantage.
I get the whole automated bot, and api access toolkit, but they have an unfair advantage as they are able to snipe closeouts the split second they open. This is an access point Joe Styler, and his Godaddy team should closeout, they don't profit anymore by who can draw the fastest, so why not even the playing field.

Huge Domains is a great partner, they bid up names that would sell for $xx, into the $xxx range, without fail, all day everyday, they are a toll to using the system, but it's not how auctions are supposed to work.
 
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I've said for years I don't know how they can last buying so much garbage and they are still buying garbage and bigger than ever. They are the Goliath of domaining. I miss the days before they dominated everything.
 
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HD is impossible to compete with whether it is closeouts or action - For fun I followed about 15 minutes of GD action and here's what they won:

sengongpm.com - $22
srclean.com - $59
buylocalsandiego.com - $17
kaizenculture.com - $15
ocstaff.com - $15
sfseg.com - $15
reclaimedcleveland.com - $35
tradedentist.com - $15
femdoll.com - $15
floatersociety.com - $17
talniri.com - $116
coworkingon.com - $32
t1rates.com - $28

They became 2 highest bitter on the following names (their price)

centropay.com - $110 - (105)
everythingnicechristening.com - $49 - (45)
pureconcrete.com - $241 - (238)
fantasticresorts.com - $207 - (203)
exclusivecourses.com - $100 - (95)
lingasiabeauty.com - $50 - (45)

Lowest GD valuation was $253 and highest $2712

I was not interested in any of the names above, but last week I lost 12 auctions to them between $100 - 800
Great research, fine if they want to bot bid thru a timed auction that is one thing, at least you can respond to that.

Godaddy has given them an unfair advantage in sniping closeouts, as the profit is no more as it is a fixed price, the human user, and the bot user should have the same chance to win that.

I know Godaddy values the Huge Domains relationship, but you shouldn’t play favorites.
 
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They are also letting a few go, I picked up pixaf.com today, if you check the whois tool at domaintools.com, the screenshot shows a HD lander.

They are still missing some good closeouts as well. If they have to drop a lot of names, well what can I say .. domaining is only beginning!
 
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Don’t even bother wasting your time watching a $12 unbid domain fall into $11 closeout if huge domains has it q’ed in their automated bidding bot, no way you will ever refresh, and claim it first.

To be honest I think Godaddys relationship with Huge Domains in a traditional auction setting is breaking a lot of state regulations when it comes to auction bidding.
This is nothing new. Could it be that Huge Domains is fronting for Godaddy or Godaddy has a stake in HugeDomains?
 
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This is nothing new. Could it be that Huge Domains is fronting for Godaddy or Godaddy has a stake in HugeDomains?

Its possible that HD is fattening itself up hoping to be swiped up by a larger fish...
 
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Its possible that HD is fattening itself up hoping to be swiped up by a larger fish...

And then the names will drop all over again...
 
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